Tales of Captain Black | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1979 | |||
Recorded | December 5, 1978 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 33:32 | |||
Label | Artists House | |||
Producer | John Snyder & Ornette Coleman | |||
James Blood Ulmer chronology | ||||
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DIW Records Cover | ||||
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Tales of Captain Black is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer (credited simply as "James Blood" on the cover), featuring Ornette Coleman, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Denardo Coleman, recorded in 1978 and originally released on the Artists House label. [1] It was coproduced by Ornette. [2] The album was remastered and rereleased on CD with a new mix by Joe Ferla approved and co-produced by Ulmer on the Japanese DIW label in 1996.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Christgau's Record Guide | A− [4] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Globe and Mail wrote that "the guitarist has taken Hendrix several steps further; he creates textures instead of solos in which only the merest of melodic fragments survive." [6]
The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek stated: "Safe to say, there are no weak tracks on Tales From Captain Black, and even the redo of 'Revealing' from Ulmer's previous album show an unbridled excitement and an extrapolation of that tune's rhythmic and harmonic elements into something more sinister, more driven, more angular, more mercurial. Captain Black marks the real beginning of Ulmer's career as a leader. It has been a bumpy, restless ride since that time with many creative and professional ups and downs, but it hardly matters. Records like this one make him the most visionary and brilliant electric guitarist in a generation." [3] Trouser Press wrote: "Ulmer's debut finds him heavily indebted to the saxophonist. Tales of Captain Black offers Ulmer's trademark knotted, choked phrasing as a rough-hewn foil to Coleman's pure, free melodocism, but he hasn't fully discovered his own voice yet." [7]
Jamaaladeen Tacuma is an American jazz funk avant-garde bassist, composer and producer born in Hempstead, New York. He was a bandleader on the Gramavision label and worked with Ornette Coleman during the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in Coleman's Prime Time band.
James "Blood" Ulmer is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "raggedly soulful".
Harmolodics is a musical philosophy and method of musical composition and improvisation developed by American jazz saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman. His work following this philosophy during the late 1970s and 1980s inspired a style of forward-thinking jazz-funk known as harmolodic funk. It is associated with avant-garde jazz and free jazz, although its implications extend beyond these limits. Coleman also used the name "Harmolodic" for both his first website and his record label.
In All Languages is a 1987 double album by Ornette Coleman. Coleman and the other members of his 1950s quartet, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Billy Higgins, performed on one of the two records, while his electrified ensemble, Prime Time, performed on the other. Many of the songs on In All Languages had two renditions, one by each group.
Dancing in Your Head is a studio album by jazz artist Ornette Coleman, released in 1977 by Horizon Records.
Sound Grammar is a live album by jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded live in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on 14 October 2005. The album was produced by Coleman and Michaela Deiss, and released on Coleman's new Sound Grammar label. It was his first new album in almost a decade, since the end of his relationship with Verve in the 1990s. It features a mix of new and old originals.
Song X is a collaborative studio album by American jazz guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is a free jazz record that was produced in a three-day recording session in 1985. The album was released in 1985 by Geffen Records.
Free-funk is a combination of avant-garde jazz with funk music that developed in the 1970s. Leaders of the genre include Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time group, Ronald Shannon Jackson and his group Decoding Society, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and his group Spectacle and James "Blood" Ulmer. The music has also been quite influential on the M-Base genre.
Denardo Ornette Coleman is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of Ornette Coleman and Jayne Cortez.
Of Human Feelings is an album by American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman. It was recorded on April 25, 1979, at CBS Studios in New York City with his band Prime Time, which featured guitarists Charlie Ellerbee and Bern Nix, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and drummers Calvin Weston and Coleman's son Denardo. It followed the saxophonist's failed attempt to record a direct-to-disc session earlier in March of the same year and was the first jazz album to be recorded digitally in the United States.
Body Meta is an album by Ornette Coleman and Prime Time, released in 1978.
Opening the Caravan of Dreams is a 1985 live album by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time ensemble. It was recorded at a concert inaugurating the Caravan of Dreams, a then-newly opened performing arts center in Coleman's hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.
Revealing is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer featuring George Adams, Cecil McBee, and Doug Hammond recorded in 1977 and released for the first time in 1990 on the In + Out label.
Black Rock is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer, recorded in 1982 and released on the Columbia label. It was Ulmer's second of three albums recorded for a major label.
Harmolodic Guitar with Strings is an album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1993 and released on the Japanese DIW label. The album features Ulmer on guitar with the Indigo String Quartet performing compositions which expand on Ornette Coleman's theory of harmolodics.
Live at the Caravan of Dreams is a live album by American guitarist James Blood Ulmer recorded in 1985 at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth, Texas, and released on the Caravan of Dreams label. It was Ulmer's only album recorded for the label.
Music Revelation Ensemble is the eponymous second album by James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble featuring saxophonist David Murray, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, recorded in 1988 and released on the Japanese DIW label.
Prime Time was a band formed by Ornette Coleman in 1975 featuring two electric guitarists, two drummers, and occasionally two electric bassists alongside Coleman's saxophone. The band utilized Harmolodics to create their music. Founding members included guitarist Bern Nix, guitarist Charles Ellerbee, bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, drummer Denardo Coleman and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. Later members including bassist Albert MacDowell and drummer Sabir Kamal.
Grant Calvin Weston is a drummer best known for his association with Ornette Coleman's band Prime Time.